Locking device for file cabinets



July' 11V, 19511. HJ.TH1EL KER 2,992,056'

LGCKING DEVICE' FOR FILE cABINETs Filed- Jan. IT, 1958 4" SeeTS-Sheet 2 43 l Q7- TQQ/v@ July 11, 1961 H.J.TH1E1 KER LOCKING DEVICE FOR FILE CABINEIS 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Jan. 17, 1958 fla l l *LA July 11, 1961 H. J. THIELKER 2,992,056

LOCKING DEVICE FOR FILE CABINETS Filed Jan. 17, 1958 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Pr TURN@ United States Patent O 2,992,056 LOCKING DEVICE FOR FIDE CABINETS Henry J. Thielker, Yonkers, N.Y., assignor to Western Electric Company, Incorporated, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Jan.`17, 1958, Ser. No. 709,615 1 Claim. (Cl. S12-221) This invention relates to locking devices particularly locking devices for file cabinets.

In some file cabinets latches are provided for the drawers thereof to prevent accidental opening of the drawers. Also file cabinets in some instances are provided with looking mechanisms for locking all of the drawers against opening. When two drawers of such cabinets are open at the same time, even a twohdrawer cabinet may become unstable and overturn and such instability is particularly hazardous in the case of higher cabinets having four or yfive drawers.

The objects of the present invention is a device which eliminates this hazard by making it impossible to have more than one drawer of a cabinet open at one time.

In accordance with the object of the invention, one embodiment thereof includes an element for each drawer, mounted in the cabinet and normally positioned away from the conventional latch for the. drawer when the drawer is closed and movable to an operated position where the element will cause its latch to hold the drawer against opening. Associated with each of the elements for the drawers of the cabinet is an actuator, normally holding the elements free of the latches of their` respective drawers but actuab-le during the opening of any one of the drawers to force the element for the other drawers into holding positions with their latches.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is .an isometric view of a cabinet embodying one species of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary side elevational View of the device illustrating the positions of the elements when all of the drawers are closed; y

FIG. 3 is a view of the mechanism shown in FIG. 2, with one of the drawers open;

FIG. 4 is la horizontal sectional View taken along the line 4 4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view taken substantially along the line 5-5 of FIG. 3, and

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view of another species of the invention.

Referring now to the drawings, a cabinet 10, shown in FIG. l, very similar in structure to a commercially known cabinet, has been selected to illustrate the invention. This cabinet provided with drawers iLl, 12, 13, 14 Iand 15, movable into open and closed positions by handles 16. Each handle 16 is provided with a manually releasable latch 17, having a hand engaging projection 18 adjacent its respective handle, normally urged in the latching direction by a conventional spring 19, to cause its outer end 20 to enter an aperture or slot 21 in the side wall 22 of the cabinet. Each latch 17 has an offset portion therein, as shown in FIG. 5, parallel with the adjacent side 23 of its drawer, providing a space between this portion of the latch and the drawer for an element 24.

Each element 24 has a centrally positioned threaded aperture, not shown, to receive a threaded end 25 of a connecting member 26 which is locked in any desired adjusted position in the element by a nut 27. A collar 28 is removably fixed at a selected position on each member 26. A bracket 30 for each element is mounted in its respective position on the `adjacent side wall 22 of the cabinet, the bracket being provided with parallel portions ice 31, 32 and 33 which have apertures of suitable sizes therein. Aligned apertures in the projections 31 and 32 slidably support the element 24 and its member 2.6 in each instance. The member 26 for each element is bent circularly to forrn an eyelet connection 35 with a pivot arm 36. The pivot arm 36, in each instance, is fixed to an actuator 40, the connections of the arms 36 with the actuator being in alignment with each other.

In the present instance, the actuator is in the form of a rocking shaft, having its ends reduced at 4'1 to extend through and be jcnrnaled in apertures in brackets 42. 'Ilhe brackets 42 are mounted by suitable means 43, on the side Wall 22 of the cabinet. Springs 44 disposed concentric with the end portions of the actuator 40 have their outer ends extending through apertures in their brackets 42 and their inner ends 46 mounted in apertures of collars 47. The collars 47 are rotatably adjustable about the shaft or actuator 40 to create predetermined like forces in the springs 44, after which the collars are secured against relative rotation on the shaft by set screws 48 when forced into close engagement with the shaft.

Each element 24 is provided with a plunger 50 centrally apertured for mounting, adjustably, on the threaded end 5.1 of a member 52. A lock nut 54 on the threaded end of the member is actuated to lock the element in its adjusted position. The member 52 in each instance has a right angularly bent portion 55 with a circular end 56 to movably receive the member 26 back of the coll-ar 2'8. The plunger in each instance isl supported for sliding movement in an aperture of the projection 33 of its bracket 30, the projection 31 of each bracket being provided with an aperture, aligned with the aperture for the plunger, yfor slidably supporting its respective member 52. Each plunger normally urged forwardly to the iight, FIGS. Z and 3, by a spring 53 disposed concentric with its member 52, and positioned between the nut 54 and the portion 31 of the bracket 30. Each spring 53 has sufficient force embodied therein so that when its respective drawer is opened it will cause actuation of the lactuator 40 iagainst the combined forces of the springs 44 to rock the actuator from the position shown in FIG. 2, to the position shown in FIG. 3.

Considering now the function of this species of locking device which is to prevent opening of any of the drawers of the cabinet after Vany selected one of the drawers is opened. Attention is first directed to FIG. 2, where all of the drawers of the cabinet are closed and each drawer has forced its pl-unger 50 inwardly against its spring 53, compressing the springs 53 and moving the portion 56 of their mem-bers 52 to the left to free the actuator 40 to be rocked by its springs 44 in the direction indicated by the arrow, so that the `arms 36 will move their respective members 26 and elements 24 to the left free of their respective latches 17. When in the normal position, with all of the drawers of the cabinets closed, any drawer may be opened through the aid of its handle 16 by forcing a latch 17 in a direction to move the end 20 of the latch out of the `aperture 21. The moment the selected drawer is opened as illustrated in FIG. 3, the plunger 50 for this drawer is free to be moved outwardly by its spring 53, causing the portion 56 of its member 52 to engage its respective collar 28 and force its member 26 and element 24 outwardly, until the collar 28 engages the portion 31 of the bracket 30. This action of the freed plunger 50 of the opened drawer permits its spring 53, through the connection of the member 26 at 35 with its respective arm 36 of the actuator 40, to rock the actuator in the direction of the arrows in FIG. 3 against the forces of the springs 44, causing all of the elements of the other drawers to move back of ltheir respective latches 17, as shown in the lower portion of FIG. 3 and in FIG. 5, to prevent actuation of these latches and to thereby lock the remaining drawers against opening. In Athis manner it is impossible to open any drawer of the cabinet while one of the drawers is open. Any other drawer may be opened after the first drawer is closed. When the rst drawer is closed and the freed plunger 50, illustrated in FIG. 3, is moved to its position shown in FIG. 2, to compress its spring 53 and to move the portion 56 of its member 52 to lthe left, the joined forces of the springs 44 Will rock the actuator in the direction of the `arrows in FIG. 2 to free all of the elements 24 from their latches. At this time any of the drawers may be opened, but regardless of the drawer selected for movement into open position, the freeing of the plunger of the selected drawer will permit its spring 53 to rock the actuator 40' from the position shown in FIG. 2, to that shown in FIG. 3, thereby moving the elements 24 of the closed drawers back of their latches to lock them against opening.

Another species of the invention is shown in FIG. 6. This species is similar in every detail to the first mentioned species, including particularly the actuator indicated at 40 with arms 36 connected to members 26 of elements 24 and associated with plungers, not shown, backed by springs 53 for engagement at 56' with collars 28 on the members 26.

In this species of the invention, each drawer is provided with ya latch 60, carried by a resilient member 61, mounted on its respective drawer at 62. The latch 60 is normally held away from an `aperture 63 in the wall of the cabinet but through actuation of the element 24' to move a tapered end 64 thereof against a rounded end 65 of the resilient member 61, the latch 60 will be moved into the aperture 63. In this species of the invention, the latch 60 of each drawer when closed will be free of its aperture 63, for movement of the drawer into open position. However, the moment any one of the drawers of the cabinet is opened, the spring 53' will be free to force its associated element 24' to the right to rock the actuator 40 to move all of the other elements 24 to the right to force their llatches 60 into their apertures 63 to lock their drawers against opening.

It is to be understood that the above described arrangements are simply illustrative of the application of the principles of the invention. Numerous other arrangements may be readily ydevised by those skilled in the art which will embody the principles of the invention and fall within the spirit and scope thereof.

What is claimed is:

A locking device for a le cabinet including a plurality of drawers slidable into open and closed positions and having latches disposed at internal portions of the drawers, automatically actuable into closed positions when the drawers are closed to secure their respective drawers closed and manually actuable into open positions externally of the drawers, the locking device comprising an element for each latch mounted in the cabinet for movement between a normal position away from its respective latch and an operated position where the element will hold its latch against manual actuation into open positions to hold the drawer against opening, an actuator normally eiective to move all the elements into their normal positions when the drawers are closed, a movably supported plunger for `each drawer, and force applying means for each plunger causing it to engage its drawer, each plunger being freed for movement by its forcing means upon opening of its drawer and movable by its drawer against its forcing means to its normal position, means operatively connecting each plunger to the actuator, the force applying means for each plunger causing 1,432,559 Jamieson Oct. 17, 1922 2,240,067 Bolesky et al. Apr. 29, 1941 2,564,039 Thomas Aug. 14, 1951 2,719,770 Roberts Oct. 4, 1955 2,827,353 Johnson Mar. 18, 1958 2,842,419 Howard July 8, 1958 

